Hopkins gears up for Monza discovery race
John Hopkins may have had experience of most of the top categories of bike racing in his lengthy career, but strange as it might seem the Crescent FIXI Suzuki man has never set foot in the Monza circuit, so the American will get a chance to put that right this weekend. After experiencing some early season ups and downs he now feels the team is firmly on a steep upward slope.
Hopkins' task should be less physically demanding this coming weekend after he stated that his condition is much improved compared to the earlier rounds of the year. He believes however that Monza could be one of the less difficult circuits on the calendar to learn his way around. "Funnily enough, I have never ridden at Monza before, so I will have to start the weekend learning the track," said 'Hopper'. Normally I am a quick learner and, because I have watched a lot of TV footage of the track, I don't see any big problems. Apart from the chicanes, it looks pretty straightforward. As long as it's dry, I reckon I can get it dialled-in pretty easily."
He continued, "After the last race, I had absolutely no problems with my hand at all. Since then, I've been mountain biking and doing some Motocross and the hand has been good. I felt very comfortable on the Crescent FIXI Suzuki in Assen and was just happy to be out there riding and getting to know the bike better. Now I'm looking forward to Monza and getting my best results of the season so far."
